1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to containers for medicinal substances, and particularly to such a container which can be worn on the person, for maintaining a dosage of nitroglycerin tablets in a fresh condition and readily available for rapid self-administration by the wearer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Sufferers from certain heart and circulatory diseases, such as angina pectoris, sometimes incur sudden and serious attacks which require the immediate administration of a dose of nitroglycerin tablets. In a very brief time, an attack can render a person incapable of self-administering the needed medicine. Many such sufferers carry their medication on their person almost constantly.
Nitroglycerin tablets are characterized by a relatively poor shelf life. These tablets will deteriorate with excessive exposure to air. In addition, if the tablets are stored in plastic containers, active ingredients of the tablets tend to exude into pores of the containers. Known metallic containers are also unsatisfactory because constituents of the tablets will react with most metals and, in addition, if the metals are not quite dense, constituents of the tablets will exude into the pores of the metal in a manner corresponding to the deterioration in a plastic bottle.
Because of these characteristics of nitroglycerin tablets, current Federal regulations prohibit the sale of nitroglycerin tablets in any container other than a brown glass container with a screw thread top which will effect a seal. Because of the need for quick access to them, nitroglycerin tablets are exempt from regulations which require tamper-proof closures such as those currently used on containers for aspirin tablets and other medications.
It is these brown glass, screw-top containers that are typically carried by victims of heart and other circulatory diseases. One suffering from the pain and weakness attendant to a heart attack or an attack of angina can find it quite difficult to locate a bottle of nitroglycerin tablets in a pocket or purse and to then unscrew the sealed cap in time to self-administer tablets before, for example, losing consciousness.
A related problem is that the sufferer has no way of knowing when an attack will occur. Should an attack occur when a sufferer is taking a shower, for example, it is not at all improbable that the sufferer would be unable to get out of the shower, locate the bottle of tablets and put some in his mouth before losing consciousness.
There have been many proposals for personalized pill containers. Many of these are intended to provide a container for a small quantity of a given medication that has been prescribed for an ailment. These proposals would make it relatively convenient to carry a small quantity of quickly and conveniently available medications. While there have been many such proposals, none has been satisfactory for the heart disease victim who is required to carry nitroglycerin tablets. The reason is that none has been satisfactory to maintain the nitroglycerin at an appropriate potency level for a long enough period of time to achieve its intended medicinal function.